Since the Battle of New York, those who had previously hidden their abilities have slowly begun to reveal themselves to the world. Some have begun to use their abilities for the benefit of society. Some have decided to enrich themselves and began selling their new abilities, but others have also decided to use them for personal enrichment at the expense of taxpayers.
Just now, several people who recently robbed a bank (a common occurrence in the comic book world) attempted to escape, but law enforcement officers managed to corner them in a building. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a school, and now several of them had hundreds of hostages.
The building was cordoned off, but the surrounding crowd and journalists didn't care. A piece of news that could be used to make money, gain hype , or simply chat with neighbors was far more important than staying away and not interfering with people's work.
The reappearance of the hero, whom everyone had assumed dead for weeks due to his absence, attracted far more attention. Instead of focusing on the operation, the police were forced to calm the civilians, who reacted violently to the hero's return and tried to get closer to him as he made his way to the head of the operation.
Officially, of course, Alex had no right to be here right now due to lack of security clearance. Fortunately, upon seeing him, none of the officers even thought of turning him away. Most were overjoyed to see him, but there were also a few people—both in the crowd and in law enforcement—who looked at him and tried to hide their disdain.
"Major Petrov," the officer introduced himself. "You can't even imagine how glad I am to see you. I hope you're here to assist us?"
"You're right, officer. Tell me, what's going on here?"
It didn't take long to explain the situation. One of the robbers, using his abilities, had managed to break into the bank vault. When his friends entered, he was able to open it for them, saving them time, but something went wrong on the way out, and an alarm went off, preventing them from escaping. Then came the chase that led them all here.
It turned out that instead of hundreds of students, there were only a few dozen at the school, and the media were simply hyping up unverified information. But if they can't be saved, it will still look very bad for literally everyone.
No one was able to provide information on the bandits' abilities, if any, as a parallel investigation was currently underway at the bank.
Without wasting any time, one of the police officers announced to the criminals over a loudspeaker that a negotiator was on his way, although many doubted that this was a good idea.
Approaching the main entrance of the school, the hero didn't force his way in, but simply knocked. Inside, they should have heard and been prepared.
Literally a couple of seconds later, Alex spotted one of the criminals. He was dressed in civilian clothes, but the mask and pistol clearly indicated he wasn't a student.
- Good afternoon, I am here to negotiate and finish this matter peacefully, I hope you want the same.
Seeing the negotiator's face, the masked man's eyes widened in recognition, and he froze briefly, as if his brain had rebooted.
Alex gave him a few seconds to think about it, and then continued:
"We both know that if I want to, I'll go in, and you won't be able to stop me. But then the children might get hurt, and I don't want that. So I can guarantee that I won't be the first to take any action against you. Unless, of course, no one has been hurt before or will be hurt in the future."
- And I should believe you?
"Why not?" Alex replied in the friendliest way he could.
The armed man reacted by rushing from the door somewhere inside the building.
After standing and waiting for about five minutes near the entrance, the novice negotiator wanted to return to discuss a new plan, when another man approached the door.
— We need ten million dollars and a helicopter to take us out.
He had already turned around and was about to leave, but the answer stopped him.
- Okay. How should I transfer the money to you?
The robber was a little shocked by his words.
— You... you will pay us?
"Yes, of course. It doesn't cost me anything anyway, but if the children are free, it will benefit me much more."
- Then we need a hundred million.
- Okay, one hundred, so one hundred.
Ledov was a well-known figure and many knew he was rich, so a little greed was normal.
— Several children will fly away with us as a guarantee.
- Okay, will you let me in so we can discuss the details?
After carefully examining the entrance, more for his own peace of mind than from any real danger, the robber opened the door and let him in.
- Let me look at the hostages, and then we can discuss the details.
Waving his pistol towards the corridor, Alex walked ahead, while a pistol was pointed at his back, which did not bother him at all.
Entering one of the classrooms, he saw several dozen people gathered in a corner under the supervision of two more masked people.
The reactions to his arrival varied. The children became a little more cheerful and inspired , and several female teachers were also with them, who also felt better about the super's presence. But the criminals became more nervous.
Having calmed the hostages down a bit and promised that by evening they would be home and would remember it all as a bad dream, he went into another office to discuss the details.
"We need banknotes…" the criminal began, but was interrupted.
— Wait. Before you say anything, I want to promise you that I will do everything you ask. I will give you money, transportation, anything you ask for.
The masked man's eyes were full of suspicion.
"But even if you leave the country, it will take me a couple of weeks at most to find you and your friends. We'll play a little cat and mouse, but you won't be able to escape me for long."
— Is this a threat?
"You didn't hear me out. When I find you, you'll fall into my hands, and then the following will happen."
Slowly, so as not to scare the criminal, Alex collected some water. He made two small figurines: one of a man, the other of a small saw. The saw severed the man's leg. The criminal's eyes widened in understanding and were horrified to see that, after sawing off several more pieces of the figurine, the hero reassembled them and performed the process again.
- Believe me, I can do this for you.
- This is against all legal norms.
— Says the criminal who took children hostage.
The gun in his hand was aimed at the negotiator's head. The criminal's hands trembled with fear and the possibility of his fate. Now these guys, looking for easy money, had only two options: either leave peacefully and fall into the hands of the law, or try to escape, but then there was a high chance of falling into the hands of a madman considered a hero by the whole world. All that remained was to choose between the bad and the terrible.
It took the gang leader a moment to accept his future, and the pistol slowly began to fall. As a sign of his defeat, he handed it over to the envoy.
"Good choice. Now let's go do this with your friends, and then you can end up in prison, where I won't touch you while you're there."
The morally devastated criminal, wanting to escape the worst-case scenario, chose prison. So, entering the classroom where the hostages were held, he took the weapons from the others, amidst their confused looks and complaints, and handed them over to the negotiator.
The children and teachers watched with bewilderment, but hope, as the people who had recently threatened them turned out to be less dangerous, and after Alex's command, they quickly left the room to get away from this place.
Looking at several already unarmed, but looking at him in fear, criminals, Alex had one more question to solve.
"Don't worry, your friend will explain to you the reason for his behavior. But before you fall into the hands of the police, you will answer me a few questions."
- Damn, damn, damn.
A girl with bright purple hair hastily tried to pack her travel bag, throwing in any items she might need. Besides clothes, she also threw in the money she had and a small supply of food. The small, inexpensive apartment she rented had few belongings, but she needed to take the time to pack. After all, she had no plans to return. Someone was clearly planning to spend some time away from large crowds, preferably in the woods, where they wouldn't be found.
- You had to be so stupid.
The conviction of her former friends was legitimate. These people simply had to show up in masks, scare everyone, and quickly take the money. After all, breaking into a bank and opening the safe from the inside would have been much more difficult. And now they'd been caught, and not only had they been caught, but they'd surrendered to the Water Lord, who had reappeared after several weeks of absence following the assassination attempt. And all of this was being broadcast on every channel.
Having already packed her bag, she decided to change her clothes and just before leaving, she heard some movement in front of her old door.
Literally a second later, the old door was simply knocked down by several armed men who began to clear the apartment.
The first thing they saw was a bag sitting in the middle of the room. Ten men in uniforms clearly not belonging to the police, bearing the wave symbol, literally rushed into the small one-room apartment. Several were armed with thermal imaging cameras and began searching the empty space.
Under the bed, in the closet, behind the curtains – not a single corner of the room was missed.
The room turned out to be clean. But there were still other rooms left.
Entering the bathroom, the operative began to slowly move the thermal imager around the room and noticed something strange.
There was no one in the bathroom, but the scanner showed a human silhouette trying to shrink and take up less space.
Without waiting any longer, he fired a few shots, and the sleeping darts stopped in mid-air.
Just seconds later, the girl, dressed in simple clothes designed to blend in with the crowd, was drugged and revealed to the world in a sleeping state.
— I found the object.
Literally a minute later, the one who organized all of this entered the small room.
Alex was a little surprised when he saw a woman sleeping in the bathroom.
— Was she wearing clothes?
— Yes sir. As you ordered, we didn't touch the object until you arrived.
"Very interesting," the scientist said, looking closely at the sleeping man, his gaze filled with anticipation of a quick scientific discovery. "Load her, and then cover your tracks."
- It will be done.
Just a few minutes later, the Russian hero watched as the body was loaded into a van and taken to a little-known location.
Only while all this was happening, no one noticed the camera and the person who was filming everything that was happening on the street.
There was no one in sight in the well-appointed house on the seashore, so when the owner of this small mansion entered inside, he did so with peace of mind.
The overall decor was opulent yet modern. Few items were present, as if the owner hadn't particularly cared for the decor or simply spent little time there, or perhaps both.
A tanned man with Hispanic features walked calmly into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water. Just as he was about to take a sip, he noticed the intruder.
The beauty with the thick red hair, known throughout most of the world, would clearly have been a welcome guest in this house under other circumstances. But now, seeing such a beauty sitting confidently in a chair with an enigmatic smile, the owner of the house began to feel a little uneasy.
- Jose Garcia Lopez?
"Yes, how can I help such a beauty?" With a charming smile, he decided to sit in the chair next to her, but the spy's eyes saw how worried he was becoming.
She took out a photograph from the moment of the attempt on Alex's life and gave it to Jose.
"What a sad story with a happy ending. As far as I know, he's fine." He examined the photo and handed it back. "But what does this have to do with me?"
— There is a suspicion that you are behind this assassination attempt.
"Ha-ha-ha, how can such a beauty say such terrible things?" The spy noticed how his eyes darted around and his hands trembled. "I was at home during this terrible event, I have many witnesses who can confirm it."
"That would be a very good alibi, but we have learned that this killer can travel enormous distances in seconds, which immediately disproves any alibi you might have."
- Everything you describe is, of course, interesting, but I still haven't heard what I have to do with it?
"And considering that you earned all this," she pointed with her hands at the new house, "with the help of your new abilities."
The Spaniard tried to look calm, but inside the red-haired spy was jubilant, and she was better at hiding it.
— Dozens of murders around the world with a sniper rifle, carried out by a military sniper, do not speak in your favor.
The tension in the room increased.
"The most interesting thing is that the transfers to your accounts were made immediately after the task was completed. So if it wasn't you, it will be easy for you to prove your innocence."
At that moment, time seemed to slow down. Jose rolled to the side, dodging the shot from the pistol Natasha pulled from under her jacket.
The first shot missed, but the next one didn't. Aiming the gun, she watched as her target simply vanished with a small pop, and was nowhere to be found.
Having lost her target, she began to look around, not knowing from which direction he might appear.
"Believe me, I have no desire to kill you, but if you don't surrender, I can't guarantee that you'll be alive in the end."
"And why should I believe you? You just tried to kill me!" The voice came from the other room. "And even if I did believe you, how could you stop me?"
Her weapon was pointed towards the speaker.
- Believe me, if I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't even know about it.
To continue the dialogue, the spy decided to reveal her cards a little.
"Your employers aren't the stupidest people; they deliberately left a trace of you so that they could get rid of you if necessary."
To which the former military man did not respond.
— Do you think that, knowing about your abilities, I wasn't prepared for the meeting?
— I don't see any traps here.
"Because there aren't any." She took out a small photograph and placed it on the small table. "I came from the other side. Come here and you'll see."
There were a few minutes of silence, and then Jose himself came out of the room, holding his pistol, aimed at the spy, who stood unarmed, and her pistol lay a short distance away.
Carefully approaching the table, he picked up a photograph of the spy herself, who was now standing in front of him, hugging a small, smiling girl of about seven years old, who had slight features of Jose himself visible.
- You creature...
In anger, the mutant attacked the spy, grabbed her, and together they disappeared from the house.
The quiet and measured marine life was disturbed by two people appearing at a depth of several meters.
A few seconds of struggle and only one person remained in the sea, who, realizing that she was alone, began to quickly surface.
Natasha surfaced, looked around, and spotted a small patch of land a few kilometers away. With a heavy sigh, she began swimming toward land.
After a long time of sailing, she finally reached a small island, which was located in the middle of the sea.
With another heavy sigh, she simply collapsed on the sand from exhaustion - after all, even for a trained person, this is a long distance.
She wasn't given time to lie down and rest. Jose, who suddenly appeared and landed on her chest, held a knife to her throat.
— What did you do with Marie?
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent replied calmly and coldly, ignoring the knife near her neck. "And she admires her favorite uncle so much."
— Answer the question!
"Nothing happened to her. But what could happen?"
— Where is she? Answer me, or I'll slit your throat.
"You can kill me, but it won't change anything." Jose's almost crazed gaze demanded answers, but it only brought a smile to her face. "No matter what happens to me today, tomorrow the whole world will know who you are and what you did."
- What do you mean?
"Think about what will happen when your little niece finds out who her favorite uncle is? Or remember your parents, whom you literally ransomed from a drug cartel and left to live peacefully in a small house."
- They have nothing to do with it!
- Just like tens of thousands of children who could have died because of you.
- What do you mean?
While the dialogue was going on, the knife gradually moved away from her neck, but Natasha made no attempt to free herself.
— You know what kind of speech Dr. Ledov gave when you tried to kill him?
- Something about charity.
"It's not just about charity," Natasha described in as much detail as she could everything she'd seen in the hospital itself and learned from conversations. "Now imagine if all of this had been immediately taken apart by the powers that be if he'd been killed."
"Even if I'm sad, it's just work. My family has nothing to do with it."
"Now it's relevant. If something happens to me, all the information about you will be sent to both my friends and the friends of those you killed," the Spaniard's eyes widened with realization. "Yes, yes, you'll be hunted like never before, and even your abilities won't help you hide forever when a missile simply flies into your house in the middle of the night."
Seeing that there was little left, she decided to attach one more fact.
- And also imagine the face of a little girl who finds out that her favorite uncle, who gives her a lot of gifts, killed the man she admires.
The rage from all the words spoken overwhelmed the Spaniard, and he pressed the knife to his neck even harder, but Natasha's calm gaze calmed the teleporting killer.
A minute later, the two of them were sitting on the sand, and the weapons were put away.
- What do you want from me?
"It's not up to me to decide," Natasha felt as if if she said something Jose really didn't like, he'd run away and leave her on the island. "It's up to Alex."
- Alex?
"Doctor Ledov," her answer caused a sly smile to appear on Jose's face.
— I thought they were going to hand me over to S.H.I.E.L.D. for experiments.
- Even if that is the case, it will not be up to me to decide.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents , who were working alongside Black Widow, were investigating the house where the assassin lived. Cameras placed in advance showed everything that was happening inside, so they arrived immediately, but were unable to make any real difference.
"Where are we supposed to look for her now?" Melinda worried about her friend. "The tracking device isn't working."
Phil tried to calm her down:
- Don't jump to conclusions, Natasha is a professional and she is capable of dealing with problems.
Agent Ward stood a little to the side, studying the situation, but at the same time listening carefully to everything that was happening around him.
After waiting a little longer, a bang and the appearance of the missing people alarmed the agents, and they grabbed their weapons.
— I told you that everything would be fine.
Phil looked around at everyone with his signature smile.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were then given a brief report of what had happened. The killer himself called his family, checked that they were okay, and told them he would be missing for a while and not to worry.
Of course, Natasha's intense gaze was a reminder of what would happen if something went wrong.
Now, to fully complete the mission, the object needed to be escorted. When Jose suggested simply teleporting to the required location, he was gently beamed into the chamber by plane.
Already on his way back to Russia, Agent Ward entered his boss's office with a question that interested him.
"Why not just take this Jose and bring him to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Ward tried to explain his point of view to his superior. "We have everything we need to keep him from escaping. His abilities could be useful to us. Skye , Fitz , and Simmons agree with me."
Coulson took a deep breath.
"First, this man is Agent Romanov's prisoner . Second, if Director Fury was against what we're doing, he would have let me know."
"This mutant has phenomenal capabilities. We can't just hand it over to the Russians; they'll use it against us."
"We're not handing him over to the Russians, but to Dr. Ledov, who, I'm sure, can find a way to control him without threatening him. Because people with such abilities are exactly his specialty."
Ward grew increasingly angry, but he could do nothing.
"And I don't think he'll use it against us," Phil continued. "He and Agent Romanov are on good terms, so I'm sure he wouldn't just use it against her."
— Did she seduce him that much?
- You don't need to know this, just believe that there won't be any problems.
Clearly dissatisfied with the outcome of the conversation, Ward left his boss's office.